One of the great protagonists of last weekend in Hungary was Lando Norris and not only for the excellent performance that took him to second podium consecutively, but above all for the accident with Max Verstappen's trophy which the Englishman inadvertently dropped during the celebrations, causing approximately $45.000 in damage. The video of the accident went viral as did Lando's instinctive reaction who continued to celebrate after the mess, joking with Max about what happened. The Dutch driver was also reprimanded, in particular by Helmut Marko, who said that he will give Verstappen a lesson on the significance of the porcelain, from which the trophy was made, in Hungarian culture.
In short, the reaction of the two young drivers was not liked at all by either the Hungarians or the public at home. A week after the incident Lando Norris, interviewed at a press conference in Spa, Italy Belgium, said he was very sorry for both what happened and the reaction he had and assured that he will pay more attention in the future.
Norris' apology
Lando Norris' way of celebrating - banging the bottle on the ground - is particular, and has been a peculiarity of his since he was a child. But this time the gesture was more striking than it should have been. In fact, it led to the breaking of Max Verstappen's trophy, the result of six months of work by the manufacturer Herendi Porcelanmanufaktura Zrt. Initially, the Englishman had jokingly blamed Max, saying that he had left the trophy in a position too dangerous, but the criticism started to become increasingly heavy, so much so that it led Lando to apologize again during the press conference in Spa.
“First of all I want to apologize for what happened – Lando said. But it wasn't intentional. I know how much it means to Hungary and that it is part of their culture. Of course I wanted to enjoy that moment. I had absolutely no intention of doing something like this. Of course I apologized to Max, even though I made a few jokes about it. Maybe it was out of place, but I felt guilty. If he had been my trophy, obviously I would have disliked him. I also apologized to all the people who put in so much work and commitment to create that trophy and obviously I didn't want that to happen. I will definitely try to be more careful next time I celebrate and that's all I want to say. "
Norris: “I won't change the way I celebrate”
When asked if he would change the way he celebrates at future podiums, Norris responded: "I would say no. There's no reason why I should, I'll just take a little more care in what I do. I'll put the trophies aside and then continue."
In Belgium the Englishman hopes to get a third consecutive podium. A result that is not impossible given McLaren's leap in quality in recent races.
